The Moses laboratory’s discovery of TGF-β as an inhibitor of normal cell growth opened the doors to the study of negative growth regulation that represented a new paradigm. His work has had a major impact on our understanding of the disruption in the balance between positive and negative growth regulators as an underlying cause of cancer. Dr. Moses has been a leader in the use of genetically modified mice to elucidate TGF-β function in vivo. His group demonstrated that over-expression of TGF-β1 in mammary epithelial cells suppressed mammary tumor formation. Through use of Cre-lox technology to conditionally knockout the type II TGF-β receptor gene, Dr. Moses’ group demonstrated that epithelial cell autonomous TGF-β suppresses oncogene-induced carcinomas in the mammary gland and pancreas. One of the most provocative discoveries by the Moses laboratory was that loss of TGF-β signaling in a subset of tissue fibroblasts could cause pre-neoplasia and invasive carcinomas in adjacent epithelia.
Dr. Moses was founding director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and has served as president of AACR and the AACI. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and was founding chair of the IOM’s National Cancer Policy Forum.
Career Highlights
2016 Elected Fellow, National Academy of Inventors
2014 Distinguished Alumni Award, Vanderbilt University
2013 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research
2012-Present Acting Chair, Department of Cancer Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
2010 T J Martell Foundation Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award
2009 T J Martell Foundation Lifetime Medical Research Award
2005-Present Hortense B. Ingram Professor of Molecular Oncology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
2003-2005 President, Association of American Cancer Institutes
2003 Elected Member, Institute of Medicine
1993-2005 B. F. Bryd, Jr, Professor of Oncology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
1993-2005 Director, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
1991 Rous-Whipple Award, American Association of Pathologists
1991-1992 President, AACR
1986 Esther Langer Award, University of Chicago
1986-1988 Board of Directors, AACR
1985-2000 Professor and Chair, Department of Cell Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
1979-1985 Chair, Department of Cell Biology, Mayo Foundation/Clinic, and Professor of Cell Biology, Mayo Medical School
1962 MD, Vanderbilt University